John Cusack is not big on genre films, and the only bona-fide thriller on his resume is 2003’s “Identity.” But when Cusack was sent the script for “1408,” about a debunker of the supernatural who checks into a hotel suite where, according to myth, no one checks out alive, Cusack had to rethink his natural bias for two reasons.

First, it was based on a Stephen King short story, and second, it offered the ultimate actor’s challenge: Could he hold a screen on his own in a confined space for 94 minutes?

Q: Are you a Stephen King fan?

A: Oh, yeah. He’s an underrated writer. People get hung up on the horror/science-fiction thing, but when you read his best stuff, it’s all character. That’s why so many good filmmakers and actors have been drawn to his stuff. Think about it. Jack Nicholson, Sissy Spacek, Kathy Bates, Anthony Hopkins, Johnny Depp, Tom Hanks, Ed Harris — those are all pretty particular people.

Q: Do you have a favorite King film?

A: Well, I know that King doesn’t like it, but Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of “The Shining” is incredible. I first saw it when I was, like, 12, and I was afraid to walk home by myself. “Carrie” is pretty great; that really holds up after, what, 30 years? “Stand by Me,” not a horror film, just a great movie about growing up. There are a lot of clunkers, too, but that’s what happens when you’re as prolific a writer as he is.

Q: Aside from some pretty tense scenes with Samuel L. Jackson (who plays the hotel manager), “1408” is pretty much all Cusack, all the time. Was that the challenge for you artistically, or was it just about giving the old ego a blowout on the highway?

A: It was more like a maniacal dare to myself. No safety net, no tightrope even. And without giving too much away, a lot of what’s going on in the room really isn’t, you know, because it’s CGI stuff that’s added later. You really do have to work yourself up to it because it’s a psychological hell this guy is going through, and since it’s a thriller, that has to increase in intensity for every scene. It’s not like a one-man show where you stroll around the stage telling old stories. It’s stripping down, showing what’s inside. So you know you could fail miserably, and yet you still feel driven to try.

Not only was racial animus a likely factor when Charter Communications repeatedly rejected negotiations with Entertainment Studios, the TV programmer, but Charter's attempt to shield itself from allegations of bias using the First Amendment is also without merit, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.